Plague Inc – evil strategy game to infect the world with disease & dominate humanity
by Paul Wilks
Dec 10, 2012 12:59 PM –
Install
Plague Inc is a detailed impact simulator where you spread deadly afflictions upon the world’s population. Whether you want to spread a deadly brain worm by starting it in India or infect the people of Iceland with a virus that makes them paranoid, the choice is yours. The aim of the game is simple, subdue the population of the world as effectively as you can. A game for wannabe evil geniuses? Probably. Perhaps a bit sinister? Certainly. Will it get you funny looks if you play it in public? Definitely. Addictive as hell? You betcha!
Price: Free with In-app Purchases aplenty.
Tested on: Nexus 4
Content Rating: Low maturity
Pros & Cons:
Pros
- Good graphics!
- Immersive sound and music!
- Fun strategic gameplay!
- Part science, part science fiction!
Cons
- Freemium, and the extra items can be expensive.
Features:
I was watching Contagion the other night and I was fondly reminded of a review I wrote a while a go for a game called Epidemic. Here’s where you create a deadly virus, manipulate it and try and wipe out humanity as effectively as you can. I remember shortly after discovering Plague Inc but never giving it a proper go, but after watching the movie I decided to give it a try. And I’m pleased I did.
Plague Inc plays very similarly to the way Epidemic does, but with a host of extra features, more dynamic diseases and symptoms, better graphics and sound, in addition to far more control and viruses, etc. that belong in the realm of sci-fi rather than anything remotely feasible right now.
Playing the game is quite straight forward. Firstly you select a plague type then a game difficulty. You next give the disease a name which can be anything you like. You can then modify the genetic code of the plague in a variety of ways- from making it more prone to mutate to enabling it to survive effectively in more arid conditions. The game then loads and you select a country where your plague will start.
Along the bottom of the screen you can see how many people are infected, a selected country and the number the plague has killed. There is a notification which tells you how developed a possible cure is, plus a news and time feed. You can also access a Disease tab and a World tab.
Disease
In the Disease section you can alter and manipulate your plague using DNA points. These points are gathered in numerous ways during the game and essentially form the game’s currency. Lots of things can be adjusted, from the plagues ability to resist drug treatments, the symptoms it might induce and how it gets transmitted. All of these factors contribute to three levels; infectivity, severity and lethality. You need to use strategy to spread the plague you have created as far and as wide as you possibly can, with the sole intention of wiping out life worldwide. Yeah it’s a bit sinister and certainly not something you’d play on a plane (it’d freak people out), but it’s irrepressibly fun and very challenging.
World
This gives you the big picture. You can look at how the disease is spreading, how the cure is being developed and data that relates to the countries infected. If you monitor this carefully you can help your plague spread more effectively. For example, countries like Greenland and Iceland are often very tough to attack, but there ways in-game of directing diseases towards certain countries and the World section really helps with that.
If you’re a bit of a science geek, you’ll enjoy the level of detail given to the genetics and symptoms. There’s far too much to go into in this review, but there are hundreds of different combinations and things to try. If you enjoy strategy games, the three levels of difficulty (which reflect things like how often people wash their hands and how much doctors work in the game) will give you plenty of challenge. If you’re an evil genius in the making, this gives you lots to… actually, no, you won’t like this game- forget I mentioned it. 
Main screen
The main screen you see through the game is a wide map of the world. Here you can see transport links and bubbles which, when popped help you play the game. These include blue bubbles which slow down finding a cure, DNA bubbles which boost your DNA (in-game credits remember?) and red bubbles which indicate where the disease has spread to.
However, there might be a problem. Plague Inc is a freemium title that allows you to make in-app purchases. These purchases let you unlock all manner of different viruses, genetic code and even cheat features (such as unlimited DNA). There are loads of things to unlock in the game- which you can do for free by winning the game at different difficulty levels- but I’m not sure if the game has the legs to really last you doing that. It’s fun, but if you’re playing plague-after-similar-plague over and over it reduces the fun. Break out the Neurax Worms and Bio-Warfare and it suddenly becomes interesting. If you decide to buy the in-app boosts, I think you’ll find the cost stacks up quite fast.
Watch on Mobile
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Plague Inc – Main menu
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Plague Inc. Worldwide VIew
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Plague Inc – Typical gameplay screens (1)
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Plague Inc – Typical gameplay screens (2)
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Plague Inc – Typical gameplay screens (3)
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Plague Inc – Typical gameplay screens (4)
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Plague Inc – Select plague type
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Plague Inc – Here’s what your disease looks like. Adorable huh…
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Plague Inc – Transmission
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Plague Inc – Symptoms
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Plague Inc – New gene discovered
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Plague Inc. Diseases
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Plague Inc – Abilities
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Plague Inc – Modify genetic code
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Plague Inc. Worldwide View
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Plague Inc – World screen
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Plague Inc. Disease Stats
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Plague Inc – World graph
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Plague Inc – Infection spread summary
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Plague Inc – News pop ups
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Plague Inc – It doesn’t always go to plan
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Plague Inc – Excellent
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Plague Inc – Disease graph
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Plague Inc – Cure graph
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Plague Inc – Victory
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Plague Inc – Score
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Plague Inc – High scores
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Plague Inc – Help screen
Fun Factor:
If strategy is your thing, you’ll really enjoy the innovative and challenging gameplay here. There’s lots to uncover and all manner of different things to inflict on humanity.
Addictive:
Absolutely! It’s easy to play once you know how and it’s great to be able to modify, evolve and devolve your virus however you like, always trying to stay one step ahead of the countries trying to find a cure.
Graphics:
The graphics are great, despite being mainly information screens and the world map. There’s lots of colour and it’s easy to navigate.
Accelerometer, Vibration & Sound:
The sound is extraordinary- from chilling music to haunting children singing, it’s incredibly diverse and a highlight of the game itself.
Tags:
Android App,
Android Apps,
Android Game,
AndroidTapp.com App Review,
Disease,
Epidemic,
Freemium,
Pandemic,
Plague,
Plague Inc,
Strategy
Categorised in: Brain & Puzzle
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